Tough day on court and on beach for Canada in volleyball

GUADALAJARA – It was a day to forget for Canada in volleyball – on the court and beach- on Wednesday at the Pan American Games.

On court, the Canadian women are still searching for their first win after falling to Peru in a consolation semifinal. They will play for seventh place on Thursday. On the beach both Canadian pairs were eliminated from the tournament.

In beach volleyball action in Puerto Vallarta, Heather Bansley and Liz Maloney of Toronto lost their women’s quarterfinal match to world champions Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil 21-15, 21-16

The Canadians were 2-1 in the round robin but that one loss was very costly in the end as they were knocked to second in their pool and drawn in the opening playoff round against the powerful Brazilians. Still Bansley and Maloney played a very strong match.

‘’We are happy with our performance today against the number-one team in the world,’’ said Bansley. ‘’We had a 9-6 lead in the first set but they chipped their way back and the rest of the match was back of forth.

‘’We made some good defensive plays and we sided out very well. Overall we played at a high level.’’

On the men’s side, Christian Redmann of Oro Station, Ont., and Ben Saxton of Balzac, Alta., lost their third and final round robin match to Aldo Miramontes and Juan Virgen of Mexico 28-26, 25-23.

That put the Canadians in a three-way tie for first place at 2-1 in their pool but they were ranked third in the end based on a points for and against ratio and were eliminated. Only the top-two in each of the four pools advanced to the quarters.

Canada falls to Peru on the court.

On the court in Guadalajara, Peru defeated Canada 3-1 (24-26, 25-18, 22-25, 25-19) in a match for the five to eight positions.

Canada’s best scorers were Tasha Holness of Calgary and Elizabeth Cordonier of Vancouver with 13 points apiece and Brittney Page of Vernon, B.C., who added 11. Canada held a 13-10 advantage in blocks while Peru had the edge in service aces 4-3.

“When I see the first three sets, we made some mistakes that gave Peru the momentum,’’ said Canada’s head coach Arnd Ludwig. ‘’I was pretty confident we were coming back, but Peru played very smart and clever.”

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,’’ added Canada’s team captain Tammy Mahon of Holland, Man. ‘’We have faced each other many times. We had energy and we were prepared for five sets. We had some moments when we played as we should, but it was not enough”.

Canada will play the loser of the Mexico-Puerto Rico match held later Wednesday for seventh spot on Thursday.